


Home Brewed

by ValidAsshole



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, THIS IS LATE BUT WHATEVER, Witches, day 1 of wlw week, fashionably late and all that right?, short&sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19703887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValidAsshole/pseuds/ValidAsshole
Summary: Being lost in the forest really isn't how she wanted to spend her Friday night.





	Home Brewed

She’s hiding in the hollow of a tree, waiting for the sun to come up again and the forest to be safe again, not daring to sleep lest something pull her out of safety, steal her dreams.

Hinata tries to hold back a whimper as someone, _something,_ growls not far from her hiding spot. The noises the forest make now at night so much different than in the day. Birds asleep and hidden. Insects flurrying about, sounding louder than the usual buzzing. 

She shouldn’t, shouldn’t have followed Sasuke this deep into the forest, but god damn it she was an adult now and his attitude was getting on her nerves, saying she couldn’t handle the forest at night. 

Her family was just as prestigious as his. She had just as much magic running through her veins! But those facts pale in the face of the fact that she’d gotten lost, almost gotten caught by the creatures dwelling here- only hadn’t because of her sight, allowing her to escape before they noticed her. She doesn’t know if she’d be able to ever get back if she was. 

She might be strong enough to face them, but she doesn’t have much faith in her abilities, and what if she manages to win against one of them, but accidentally attract more? There were a lot of things that could go wrong, a lot of creatures that liked to feed on the magic of witches and _why did she come here._ For some weird form of revenge?

And Sasuke had just disappeared on her! The asshole, he had to have known he was being followed. That, or he was always that careful with who he was visiting. Naruto was right, he was up to something suspicious. All the recent disappearances in this forest… was he connected to it?

She refused to be next. There’s something moving closer to her hiding spot though, and it’s frightening. She couldn’t stay in this one spot, not when she didn’t have any charms to fully hide her presence on her. Her magic must feel like a bright beacon when she sits so still like this.

Steeling herself, she leaves, moving quickly away from whatever it is that had honed in on her, moving light on her feet. She may not have faith in her ability to face multiple opponents, but she was fast.

Freaking out and trying to hide like that, she pinches herself. That had been a bad idea, and she needed to get a hold on herself. 

But then whatever’s chasing her just… disappears.

That was… not a good sign. That means it had access to the middle ground. She runs a little faster and pushes her magic down as much as she can, hair whipping around her face as the fireflies and kodama clucking at her, lighting the way.

She doesn’t check behind her, that was _always_ a bad idea, would make her trip over a root or run straight into a tree.

But then there’s bits of paper flowing past her and forming something - fast. 

She has a moment to skid to the left and well- keep running.

A paper demon? From little bits of paper? Probably to strangle and kill wary forest travelers? Probably etched with enchantments to drain magic? No thanks.

But… while she’s fast, it seems especially motivated. Of course it would, a lone Hyuuga, at night.

She curses her stupidity, well if it wouldn’t just give up, that means she’d have to fight. And then start running again, faster than the other creatures can follow preferably. If only this paper demon could like, not.

It forms before her again, and instead of the monster or formless paper mache creature she’d been expecting, a - another witch forms, lavender hair, grey eyes, a flower clipped into her hair, and wearing a weird cloak. Weird, but not murderous.

She doesn’t quite relax, but it’s close.

“Why are you chasing me?” she asks, because really, she was getting tired of this forest fast.

She gets an unamused eyebrow lift instead and a deadpan, “You were running.”

Ok, well. She could deal with this. Definitely. That is definitely not a good reason to chase someone, but at least she wasn’t chasing her to kill her or cut off her legs. Her grandfather had not been so lucky, running into some particularly vicious Kamaitachi. 

“Sorry, I got lost.” she tries being amicable.

The other witch eyes her, seeming to be judging her.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I’d be gone already if I could be.”

She holds out her hand. Hinata gives it a very suspicious look.

  
“What?”

“I’ll take you out of the forest.” 

That sounded… too nice to be true. Hinata couldn’t travel to the middle ground just yet, she never managed to open more than a hand can fit through, but she was working on it.

This though, she doesn’t even know where HInata lives, she could drop her somewhere completely wrong, or abandon her in the middle ground to wander forever. It wasn’t really a chance she wanted to take.

“You don’t know where I live.”

The witch smiles at her, seeming pleased. Or amused. Somewhere in between.

“So you’d rather I left you here, then?”

“No.” now that the witch seemed friendly, she wasn’t willing to trust her quite yet, but she didn’t want her to leave either. She was powerful, Hinata could feel it now that she was so close, now that she could concentrate on her essence instead of being slightly blinded by the forest’s energy. 

“But I’d rather not get even more lost?” she tried.

And she hadn’t killed her yet, even though she definitely could if she wanted to. 

So, no getting on her bad side, but also- don’t follow her into oblivion. Hinata could do that.

Then, she starts walking away. 

“Wait!” 

Hinata follows, because really what else was she going to do. The evil spirits stayed far away from this witch, and she likes the protection from the wandering eyes too much to let it go.

“I’m Konan.” she says as she walks, as if she’d expected Hinata to follow her.

This is how she finds herself visiting one of the most powerful witches homes unannounced, and without a proper gift.

Konan leans over her as she sits awkwardly on a wooden chair, hands folded in her lap. She squeaks as she looks up and she’s suddenly just. There.

Hands fall onto her shoulders.

“Once daylight comes, you should leave. Make sure not to get stuck in the forest again, bunny.”

She blushes at the name, because really - she knows she’s easily frightened, but she’s not a bunny! She’d outgrown her fainting stage already, ah- but she hadn’t quite stopped turning into a tomato at a compliment or the sight of her very few crushes.

Learning that this was one of the Great Witches and the fact that she was now _safe_ and _inside_ had her forming a crush too quickly for her heart. She was tall and pretty and strong, not afraid, like nothing could touch her - and that’s probably the truth with how the forest’s creatures had seemed to split for her. She curses her weak sensibilities.

“Ah, thanks for your hospitality.” she says, because she had manners, even if she stumbles on her words a little.

“You really are very skittish,” she says, “I was wondering who would try to hide in a Jubokko, you’re lucky you weren’t bleeding or you would’ve been dead before I even sensed you.”

Hinata pales. Well, that was one way to find out how close you were to dying.

“I’m sorry.”  


“Why? I wouldn’t have been able to save you. And you wouldn’t have mattered to me if you’d died quickly.”

“Because finding my body would’ve been annoying?”

“There wouldn’t be much of a body left.” 

Hinata sucks in a sharp breath. She really didn’t want to think about that. And Konan’s hands were still on her shoulder.

But as fast as she was there, she walks away. Hinata takes the time to stare at her hands and reprimanded herself for her stupidity. Proving someone wrong was definitely not worth how close she’d come to actually dying!

She returns to the world of the living again at the sound of something being placed before her.

Oh, a cup of tea.

She makes a confused noise.

“It’ll ease your nerves.” she says, taking a sip of her own tea.

“Thank you, you really are being too kind.” she says. She doesn’t really want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she really didn’t need to be so helpful. Hinata wanted to show that she appreciated it, she had been saved after all. 

It was a little foolish but, “Is there anyway I could repay you?”

Konan quietly sips at her drink, appraising her.

“You have good control over your magic, yes?”

She nods, a bit confused. Why would Konan need help with something to do with magic…?

“There’s someone I need to heal. I need a few other people to help me do so and you seem to have good enough control to do so.”

“How would you know I’m good enough to do so already?”

“You weren’t bleeding.” she says.

Hinata’s eyes widened.

“And yet… there was blood leading to you.”

Ah, she’d given herself away there hadn’t she. No wonder she’d felt so unsafe in the tree, when she’d accidentally left behind such an obvious trail in her haste. Those thorn bushes had been evil, and probably aware of it.

“Healing someone, i’m not an expert in healing, but if it’s a ritual with a group…” she gathers herself, feeling a bit motivated, “I’ll help!”

A gentle smile is directed towards her, “I’m glad.”

She reaches her hands across the small table to place it on Hinata’s shoulder, looking straight into her eyes.

“Very glad. You'll have to stay a bit longer then.” she says, thumb hand rubbing her shoulders.

Hinata shivers, was she being flirted with? 

"Hm, though that shouldn't be too much of a problem," she says, "you're very cute." she says leaning over to give her a peck on the cheek. Hinata was definitely being flirted with.

She barely manages to not fall out of her chair. She doesn't faint though and that is more than she could ask for as she wonders how she's going to make it through this without absolutely failing at coming off as a capable witch, let alone a competent human being.


End file.
